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A review by shhchar
My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi
2.0
2022 ⭐️ ⭐️ re-read (maybe a trigger warning? / mild spoilers / this book is lame):
As I near my 25th birthday, I felt a compulsion to re-read a book that's existed on my bookshelf as a favorite since I first read it at 16 years old. Well, I took the disappointment like a champ and though it may be fair to say many things have changed in our cultural perceptions of sex and its consequences since this book was written, it didn't have to be so darn perpetuating of the stigmas!!!!!!.
It was written like a Glee script that tried to moralize on highly complex, stigmatized issues. There is early-on unaddressed sexual assault, woven throughout the novel with the author not-so subtly placing the blame on Lucy for being dressed like "a vixen in all black" and underage drinking too much at a NYC bar. The character of Roxie felt a tad like a racist trope of the helpful Black side friend assisting the main white protagonist without getting agency of her own. She leads an adult group therapy, takes care of her 11 year-old-brother since their mother died of HIV and they got shuffled into foster care, works at NYU and invites Lucy to what's a very lucrative audition for her even though she admittedly did not deserve it because of her own childish actions, all while Roxie still somehow also goes to high school.
Lucy's revulsion to her own body and blood felt very shitty and real when I have experienced the same sort of feeling in response to personal illnesses but instead of Verdi offering a light at the end of all that, it was just unnecessarily hammered into the reader especially with the character of Evan. Lucy abhorred therapy though it continued to help her which is a tinsy bit relatable but also probably was not helpful for impressionable younger me to soak in. Regardless, the outcome of this story ought to have been that everything will be okay because sexually transmitted diseases are things that people live with daily and reflect NOTHING of who you are as a person. Instead it was, Lucy will be offered all these awesome chances and have all the resources that other people with HIV do not get because she is Lucy, a great actor and soulful musician.
I do give Verdi credit for talking about stuff that very few other YA authors were covering at this time. I just wish it didn't feel so outdated.
original 2013 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ review:
Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting out of this book. The blurb leaves the plot ambiguous, and I expected it to just be a simple romance. Let me tell you, the cute cover and light synopsis are just very favorable ploys. One of the reasons I read the book right after getting it, even though I'd never even heard of it before purchasing it and usually books sit on my shelf forever before they get read, was that it was so mysterious I just needed to figure out what was hidden within. All of these factors played out very well into the book's hands, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone else by discussing too much of the plot in this review.
I think everyone should read this book. I think everyone needs to read this book. The writing is simple but at the same time extremely compelling. While little things were predictable, the main plot lines weren't. I connected to Lucy and all the other characters and empathized with them. This is a book I'll definitely recommend to family and friends.
As I near my 25th birthday, I felt a compulsion to re-read a book that's existed on my bookshelf as a favorite since I first read it at 16 years old. Well, I took the disappointment like a champ and though it may be fair to say many things have changed in our cultural perceptions of sex and its consequences since this book was written, it didn't have to be so darn perpetuating of the stigmas!!!!!!.
It was written like a Glee script that tried to moralize on highly complex, stigmatized issues. There is early-on unaddressed sexual assault, woven throughout the novel with the author not-so subtly placing the blame on Lucy for being dressed like "a vixen in all black" and underage drinking too much at a NYC bar. The character of Roxie felt a tad like a racist trope of the helpful Black side friend assisting the main white protagonist without getting agency of her own. She leads an adult group therapy, takes care of her 11 year-old-brother since their mother died of HIV and they got shuffled into foster care, works at NYU and invites Lucy to what's a very lucrative audition for her even though she admittedly did not deserve it because of her own childish actions, all while Roxie still somehow also goes to high school.
Lucy's revulsion to her own body and blood felt very shitty and real when I have experienced the same sort of feeling in response to personal illnesses but instead of Verdi offering a light at the end of all that, it was just unnecessarily hammered into the reader especially with the character of Evan. Lucy abhorred therapy though it continued to help her which is a tinsy bit relatable but also probably was not helpful for impressionable younger me to soak in. Regardless, the outcome of this story ought to have been that everything will be okay because sexually transmitted diseases are things that people live with daily and reflect NOTHING of who you are as a person. Instead it was, Lucy will be offered all these awesome chances and have all the resources that other people with HIV do not get because she is Lucy, a great actor and soulful musician.
I do give Verdi credit for talking about stuff that very few other YA authors were covering at this time. I just wish it didn't feel so outdated.
original 2013 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ review:
Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting out of this book. The blurb leaves the plot ambiguous, and I expected it to just be a simple romance. Let me tell you, the cute cover and light synopsis are just very favorable ploys. One of the reasons I read the book right after getting it, even though I'd never even heard of it before purchasing it and usually books sit on my shelf forever before they get read, was that it was so mysterious I just needed to figure out what was hidden within. All of these factors played out very well into the book's hands, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone else by discussing too much of the plot in this review.
I think everyone should read this book. I think everyone needs to read this book. The writing is simple but at the same time extremely compelling. While little things were predictable, the main plot lines weren't. I connected to Lucy and all the other characters and empathized with them. This is a book I'll definitely recommend to family and friends.